Council Faces Fresh Criticism Over School Admissions Communication

Adjudicator finds admissions policy unclear

Brighton and Hove City Council has come under fire for failing to properly alert parents to changes in school admissions rules. The Schools Adjudicator upheld objections to the council's admissions arrangements for the September 2027 intake in a decision published on 22 October, during the school half-term holiday.

Adjudicator David Holland ruled that the priority given to children eligible for free school meals was "unclear" in the council's admissions criteria. He also found that the council's waiting list arrangements "lacked sufficient clarity" and that one of the rules concerning waiting lists was inconsistent with the statutory admissions code.

The secondary school application deadline fell nine days after the adjudicator's ruling, on 31 October.

Schools not asked to share ruling with families

A school governor, who requested anonymity, said communications with school leaders did not include any explicit request to share the adjudicator's rulings with families on the final day before the half-term break. The governor stated: "If you are disadvantaged or grappling with SEND, is it even fair to expect you to have to find an update on admissions that affects you."

The governor added that a key aim of the council's admissions policy, for which it won an award, was to support disadvantaged families, yet the adjudicator had highlighted inconsistencies that parents needed to know about.

Previous communication failures

This is not the first time the council has struggled to communicate admissions changes. Last year, the council attempted to email over 1,000 parents about a previous adjudicator ruling affecting Year 7 places at Blatchington Mill and Dorothy Stringer secondary schools. All of those emails bounced back and were not received.

Parent Natasha Priest, who raised concerns about poor communication previously, said: "Parents applying for secondary school deserved to be told the rules had changed. Instead, the council issued a press release spinning the adjudicator's ruling. The changes affected kids on free school meals and how waiting lists work. Our children deserve better."

Council response

The council said it made information available on its website about the adjudicator review and that "a section of our website was not updated to reflect this" whilst awaiting the decision. When asked which section had not been updated, the council did not respond.

The council added: "As soon as the schools adjudicator's determination was made, we updated our website to reflect the required changes but we do apologise for any confusion."

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